Gaming - Page 1048

Steam is an oft-hacked platform for a number of reasons. The internal economy and lack of proper controls for trading the strangely valuable items makes it a very sweet target for scammers and hackers alike. Valve is committed to helping stop that from happening and is rolling out some new ways to help prevent you from outright losing your inventory.

On March 9th, a Steam update will add a number of new features to the trading mechanism to make it more difficult for scammers to steal from their intended victims. These changes are in response to the nearly 77,000 accounts that tend to be hacked or otherwise compromised in some fashion each month.

And for goodness sake, use Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator, it's relatively easy to setup and it helps tremendously. 2FA is a very effective tool in preventing both hacking as well as enabling a safer and more effective trading environment.

Star Wars has been a very successful franchise for EA this year with Battlefront alone having shipped more than 13 million copies worldwide since it released. Star Wars: The Old Republic has seen a revival in its player base thanks, in part, to a return to the highly successful narrative driven gameplay they reintroduced with the Knights of the Fallen Empire. Galaxy of Heroes, too, has been a smashing success.

And now EA wants to start teasing what they're planning on doing next with the franchise. During the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in San Francisco, the companies CFO, Blake Jorgensen, talked elusively about how they plan on moving forward. "We've got a couple of things up our sleeve that we haven't talked about yet but you'll probably see them teased over the next six months," Jorgensen said. We already have an idea about the direction they're headed, with an Amy Hennig directed open-world RPG and even potential sequels to Battlefront itself.

The strong sales of Battlefront, regardless of the actual numbers of people playing at any given time, has show EA just how strong a franchise it can be for them, hopefully something that'll resonate and help to invigorate the development of well thought-out games that are true to the spirit of Star Wars.

In a move that certainly surprises no one but disappoints everyone, EA has officially confirmed that Mass Effect: Andromeda won't be releasing in 2016. The "best and largest ever" Mass Effect game will instead be releasing in the first quarter of 2017, which is from January 1 through March 31, 2017.

During a presentation at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen detailed the company's roadmap for 2016 and beyond. "We've got a great year ahead... we've got our Battlefield first-person shooter game coming in the third quarter, and our third-party title that Respawn, our partner, built, it's called TItanfall, it's the second title that they brought into that brand. We have our Mirror's Edge runner game this first quarter, and then we have Mass Effect, which is a sci-fi action game, in our fourth quarter. So big year ahead and we're pretty excited."

As EA's fiscal year begins with Q1 on December 15 and ends in Q4 on March 31, we can surmise that ME: Andromeda will be out by March of next year. Not so long ago we predicted that Andromeda would be delayed due to the departure of key talent, including Senior Development Director Chris Wynn and lead writer Chris Schlerf.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End will be a cornerstone of Sony's massive PlayStation 4 dominance this year, but the game has been delayed... again. Uncharted 4 was delayed from 2015 into 2016, then it was delayed into April 2016, and now it has been delayed again - until May 10.

President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, Shawn Layden, explained on the PlayStation Blog: "In an effort to meet the considerable worldwide demand, and to ensure that all gamers worldwide have the opportunity to play the game on day one, we have chosen to postpone the launch of the game by two weeks to allow for extra manufacturing time. We know this news might be disappointing, and we are sorry to have to make you wait a little longer to play Naughty Dog's latest. The good news is that the game is phenomenal - we are fully confident that it will be worth the wait and the team at Naughty Dog is eager as ever for you to experience Nathan Drake's final adventure".

There will also be an Uncharted 4 open beta multiplayer that kicks off this weekend, which will give Naughty Dog and Sony a chance to test out the game's servers for its launch, hopefully, on May 10.

If there's one huge area where consoles lose out to PCs, it would be that they're not upgradeable. Console owners and fans would disagree, saying that it creates an ecosystem that allows Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo to develop, and let third-party studios develop games for hardware that is identical between consoles. So, if one person owns a PS4 - the other 25 million+ have the exact same hardware.

Well, according to Xbox boss Phil Spencer, this could all change in the future. Optional hardware purchases could happen, and they would be different to the "optional" microtransactions games have today, except you'd actually get value out of spending money. Speaking with Polygon, Spencer said: "When you look at the console space, I believe we will see more hardware innovation in the console space than we've ever seen".

He continued: "You'll actually see us come out with new hardware capability during a generation allowing the same games to run backward and forward compatible because we have a Universal Windows Application running on top of the Universal Windows Platform that allows us to focus more and more on hardware innovation without invalidating the games that run on that platform". So that makes sense, as we really do need hardware innovation in the console space, as it has been dead for 10 years now - we're still in the 720p-ish 30FPS-ish world, and that's shocking, as it's 2016 - not 1996.

Rise of the Tomb Raider has been enjoying huge sales on the PC, where it has smashed the sales of the Xbox One version - but what about the rumored DX12 patch for the game?

Well, it looks like it could be closer than we thought, with Microsoft teasing that Rise of the Tomb Raider was running in DX12 at its Xbox Showcase Media Event. Microsoft confirmed: "DirectX 12 Showcase: Rise of the Tomb Raider, Ashes of the Singularity, King of Wushu - Square Enix, Snail, and Stardock showcased their latest DirectX 12 enhancements for Rise of the Tomb Raider, King of Wushu, and Ashes of the Singularity on Origin PCs, iBUYPOWER Revolt 2, and Maingear PCs".

They continued: "Ashes of the Singularity is taking advantage the DirectX 12 multi-adapter technology, allowing PCs to use multiple GPUs, even from different manufacturers. Rise of the Tomb Raider was playable for the first time at the Xbox Spring Showcase running DirectX 12".

Killer Instinct is coming over to the PC through Windows 10, with Microsoft confirming the news earlier today. The game will launch on March 29, and thanks to a new FAQ posted on the official website, we know that if you buy the Xbox One version of Killer Instinct, you won't lose all of the content you've purchased.

If you want to keep your existing Killer Instinct content when you shift over from the Xbox One to Windows 10, you must "receive the Season 3 game update, available starting March 29, 2016. Simply login to your Xbox One console and launch Killer Instinct. Ensure you're connected to Xbox Live and follow the prompts to receive the update. Once the update is complete, launch Killer Instinct fully. Once the update is complete and you have launched Killer Instinct again, you will be able to login into Windows 10 to access your owned and earned content".

As for the minimum and recommended requirements, this is what you'll need:

The Xbox One Preview Program is getting a pretty substantial update pushed out tomorrow. This update is finally giving you the ability to buy those Xbox 360 backwards compatible games straight through the Xbox One store itself.

If you're lucky enough to have signed up and been chosen for the honor of this program, then you'll also be able to enjoy much larger Party Chat rooms, with up to 16 people able to tell you how much you such at one time. You'll also have the ability to include each person individually into your Twitch broadcast, though each person has the ability to decline should they want to. The party leader can also mute the voice of anyone who opted-in to being part of the broadcast, just in case.

And in case you want to show off the things you've accomplished with the nearly 30 million hours of Xbox 360 in Xbox One gaming time, then you'll also be able to share your Xbox 360 achievements in your Xbox One activity feed, which is only natural given that you can play those games on the console now. So why not celebrate all of your achievements properly.

Star Ocean 5: Integrity and Faithlessness is being developed primarily for the PlayStation 3, but that doesn't mean that the PlayStation 4 version, which is the only version that'll be available outside the US, has to suffer because of that. Some of the differences between the two versions have been outlined by Square Enix and tri-Ace.

On the latest Star Ocean Program broadcast, they talked about the fact that the framerate would be targeting 60FPS in most cases at 1080P on the PS4, though some of the more challenging scenes might push it more towards 30FPS. The resolution won't scale, though and will remain the same regardless. The PS3 is limited to 720P, 30FPS and far less visual fidelity compared to the big brother port.

Although it's a port, tri-Ace is working hard on ensuring that the graphics are actually taking advantage of the 1152 GCN cores available. It won't be a direct port, with higher resolution textures, more fluid animations, and a higher LOD. The full list of differences is below. At least initially it sounds like they're taking care to not make the mistakes of many ports that have preceded this one.

Well, not it's actually official. After the Seattle Times jumped the gun by just a few hours, Microsoft has announced that Forza Motorsport 6: Apex will be available this Spring absolutely for free.

The game will more than take advantage of the kind of power inherit in PC's. Under the hood the engine will be flying on top of DirectX 12 to help maximize performance. That means we won't be limited to only 1080p and 30FPS. Turn 10 studios does promise the ability to scale very well with different hardware so everyone can still have a good experience. The Xbox One version ran pretty well given its limited hardware.

Just what exactly is this new Forza game supposed to be? Well, Turn 10 says that it's a sort of "curated" version of the original that includes only 60 cars and six different courses to race about on. That's not much, but the price is right and it'll help introduce new, PC only players into the franchise. I'm curious if they'll take advantage of the extra horse-power and improve the graphics and physics even more than they likely already have.

It seems like it's tradition now for games to release out the gate with a day one patch. But Far Cry Primal's doesn't seem to have to fix any glaring or widespread issues, and just brings about bug fixes to make the prehistoric experience that much more harsh.

It was decided that expert mode was just too easy for PC players so your health has been halved and your aim assist has been similarly reduced. And be on the lookout as the AI can also shoot at you 1/3 faster than on Hard difficulty. Expert Mode was made to almost literally put you in the shoes (or wrappings) of a prehistoric human, making it a much more tense experience.

Other fixes include improvements to stability, improved lighting and better looking and more useful aiming reticle and improved destruction graphics when giant mammoths run rampant through the environment. Just some general enhancements, which is far cry (pun intended) from the cleaning up some games have had to have in recent past. Overall performance seems to be quite good, and you can look for our performance analysis very soon.

After years of flagging sales, Sony has officially discontinued it's PlayStation TV micro-console in the United States and Europe.

As someone who owns a PlayStation TV, I can honestly say I'm not impressed. The device has an audaciously high retail price of $79.99, and since it only has like 700mb of onboard memory, it requires the use of expensive PlayStation Vita memory cards. While you can play PS Vita, PSP, and PlayStation original classics on it, it lacks optimization. It's really more of a niche product, and requires a ton of extra hardware and games to actually enjoy.

Although the micro-console is officially kaput, Sony isn't abandoning PSTV owners. "PS Store for PlayStation TV will continue to be accessible, and PlayStation TV-related information will continue to be updated. In terms of applications/service for PlayStation TV, we will make further communications to users as necessary."

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, the remastered version of the first three of the series, has been released on the Windows Store today, but instead of being a shining example of the prowess and graphical potential of the PC and of DirectX 12, it falls well short of that for AMD GPU owners.

What you can expect if played on an AMD R9 Fury

In fact, it's being reported that it hardly runs well at all, stuttering and exhibiting high amounts of graphical corruption even when running at modest resolutions with only modest graphical settings turned on. The performance is particularly abysmal on AMD's Fiji powered cards where the proper implementation of async shaders should theoretically hold an advantage. But even when RAM isn't a limiting factor, they don't perform. The game is a stuttering, glitching mess at this point, at 4K, 1440P or even 1080P. My own testing confirms the findings, with a horrible mess on the base Fury, making it unbearable to actually play.

Combined with the might of the existing video platform juggernaut, the YouTube Gaming streaming-and-video service is crushing the competition.

According to gaming research firm NewZoo, YouTube "dominates around the globe" and is beating Twitch by 2-to-1. Out of the 500 million viewers that tune into gaming videos, most of them pick YouTube. The firm notes that 50% of gamers in the United States choose YouTube for their content, compared to Twitch's 21%. In overseas countries like France only see 9% of viewers watching Twitch.

"Online video is the biggest thing to hit the games market since the launch of the iPhone in 2007," said Newzoo CEO Peter Warman. "Games are evolving toward cross-screen transmedia franchises right now. A direct consequence is the increased focus on communities of both gamers and viewers. This is creating enormous new growth and marketing opportunities for game companies and will accelerate the disruption of traditional media."

The newest update to Rainbow Six Siege is getting serious about cheating, which is surprisingly common in the nearly newly released tactical FPS.

The game is entering the pro's, and as such it needed a stronger foundation to help better prevent cheating, exploitation of maps (and glitches) and even rampant examples of spawn-killing. So now there's a "report" button that lets you tell Ubisoft when you think someone is doing something untoward, who will review data and make a call on what to do.

They've also introduced a kill-cam, which not helps you make sure that your death was actually somewhat legitimate. Quite a bit of time has been spent ensuring that the netcode and networking backend work well enough that lag shouldn't even be the reason for funny kills. But, of course, they've added quite a bit more to the patch as well.

Thanks to a pesky error code, dozens upon dozens of gamers can't play Far Cry: Primal on PC. The game's Steam page are littered with negative reviews and complaints, but luckily, Ubisoft has delivered a fix.

There's nothing more frustrating than spending $59.99 on a brand new game, downloading the entire 20+ GB, starting it up, and being locked out due to something you can't control. Thanks to Error 88500014, tons of gamers aren't able to play Ubisoft's Stone Age adventure, causing a ton of alarm and frustration among the PC community.

It turns out that Error 88500014 is caused by a firewall that's blocking the connection between your PC to Ubisoft's online servers. Far Cry: Primal requires a "one-time activation" across the publisher's online service, and if players can't pass this authentication, then they're locked out. Check below for a walkthrough on how to fix it.

Backwards compatibility has opened up a lot of opportunity and different doors for the Xbox One. Even though the roll-out has been slow, yet steady, it also means there are more options available to the likes of EA Access now that older games can be made playable.

The first fully backwards compatible game for EA's subscription gaming service is Plants vs. Zombies, which has just now been added to the Vault, making the entire game playable as part of the subscription.

Just this past August, EA expressed their interest in adding their historic backwards compatible games to the list as they became available, and it seems that it's finally now becoming a reality. There's, of course, a chance that the Mass Effect series could also make it's way into the Vault sometime soon, though there's no word on EA about that. They seem to be working their way from more modern games, back, which isn't a poor way to go about it either.

Activision has already confirmed a new "innovative" Call of Duty game for 2016, but it looks like this year's entry into the annual franchise will be another sequel. Sadly, it may not be another Modern Warfare.

According to FragHero, the new Call of Duty will be a sequel to CoD: Ghosts. The news was apparently leaked by a UK game magazine called Games TM, which showcased Call of Duty: Ghosts 2 with a screenshot (probably from the first game) and a November 2016 release date.

The article itself is focused on the most-wanted games of 2016. Here's an excerpt: "When creative strategist Robert Bowling exited Infinity Ward in 2012, he put the departure down to doing too much 'pew pew and not enough new new'. We got a look at what he meant with the release of Call of Duty: Ghosts--a solid, yet unspectacular next-gen debut for the franchise. Infinity Ward will have had three years to work on a follow-up, and it needs to showcase the same creative spark that once put on the map with Modern Warfare back in '08 if it wants any chance of standing shoulder to shoulder with Sledgehammer and Treyarch."

Just yesterday we surmised that it were possible that Microsoft could potentially bring their fun and competitive racing series, Forza Motorsport, over to the PC in the near future, and it appears that that might very well be true.

Microsoft held a small Xbox and Windows 10 focused event last week where this information was supposedly revealed, along with other otherwise previously unknown information regarding the shift in focus for Microsoft and PC gaming. The embargo for the event lifts at 9AM ET today, but a certain site decided to post the information before then, perhaps by mistake.

The information they had up, which was quickly taken down, showed Forza Motorsport 6 Apex on the Windows Store for Windows 10. It appears to be a cut-down version of the original, however. There's also nothing in the article about what else we can expect. But ultimately, it seems that Microsoft is definitely committed to bringing back gaming to the PC, and in a big way.

PlayStation owners will soon be able to play PS4 games on PC and Mac...after a fashion.

In a recent PlayStation Blog post, Sony revealed that the PS4's next v 3.50 firmware update will allow Remote Play streaming of PS4 games to PC and Mac. Beta testing on the new update, codenamed Mushashi, begins tomorrow, so if you signed up be sure to check your email.

Microsoft recently made waves by revealing that it'll be folding key Xbox One games into its Windows 10 PC platform, starting with Quantum Break. Not content with watching from the sidelines, Japanese console-maker Sony is now ready to step outside its console comfort zone and embrace the PC as well. Essentially the PS4's Remote Play on PC will be like the Xbox One's cross-streaming capability on Windows 10 PCs, and since its all powered by the PS4, we won't be seeing any performance gains on higher-end PC hardware.